They number in the millions and wield increasing power and influence across the United States. From year to year their voice grows stronger and more resolute, as their role in shaping policy, and the future of American society continues to expand.

Guided by faith, they love Israel passionately and pray for her well-being, rejoicing in her successes and grieving over her setbacks. They are America's Bible-believing Christians, and it is time for Israel to reach out to them in a far more sophisticated and comprehensive manner.

A great deal has already been written about the close ties that have developed between the two, as Israeli officials have at last begun to appreciate the depth and feeling of American evangelical support for the Jewish state. Indeed, what was once unthinkable has now become routine, as leading Christian pastors and Israeli government representatives regularly confer with one another, exchanging ideas and views on the principal issues of the day.

But in far too many instances, Israel's attitude toward evangelicals has been short-sighted and ill-advised, with the relationship often focused on soliciting dollars rather than devotion. And that has got to change, because far greater things are at stake here than just boosting revenues from tourism. For as strong and robust as the American Jewish community might be, it cannot and will not last forever, as recent demographic trends make clear. That leaves evangelical Christians as the best hope for ensuring that bedrock US support for Israel remains firm and unwavering in the decades to come.

In other words, thank G-d for Christian Zionists. Like it or not, the future of the relationship between Israel and the US might very well hinge far less on America's Jews than on its Christians.

By all accounts, evangelical Christians are a force to be reckoned with. As the Independent put it the other day (London, December 19): "To say the United States is a religious country is an understatement. According to polls, an estimated 47 per cent of American adults claim to be 'born-again' or evangelical."

Even if the figure is an overstatement, it still means there are tens of millions of Americans who identify themselves as evangelical. And this translates into an enormous wellspring of support for Israel, as an August 2006 study by the Pew Research Center revealed. According to the report's findings, "Seven-in-ten white evangelicals (69%) believe G-d gave Israel to the Jewish people and a solid majority (59%) believes that Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy."

Not surprisingly, the study found that "those who believe that G-d gave Israel to the Jews and that the State of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy are much more likely than others to sympathize with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians."

No wonder so many evangelicals have taken to calling themselves "Christian Zionists."

Their sympathy and concern for Israel is readily apparent. I see it in the e-mails I receive regularly from evangelical Christians in the US in response to my columns in The Jerusalem Post. They are sincere and caring, and full of love and concern for Israel and its plight. (read article)

Michael Freund is Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which reaches out and assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. He writes a syndicated column and feature stories for the Jerusalem Post. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Israeli Prime Minister´s Office under former premier Benjamin Netanyahu. A native of New York, he holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He has lived in Israel for the past decade.

Dec. 26, 2006 - The Bible has many names for what we call sin. At the top of the sin hierarchy is a Hebrew word, toevah, which is most often translated as “abomination.” An abomination is not just wrong, not just sinful. It is a knowing and ruthless corruption. The recent Holocaust-deniers meeting convened by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not a conference, it was an abomination in the full biblical sense of the word.

The question is who ought to have the primary responsibility for correcting this abomination? I think it ought to be Christians, and not Jews, who lead the way in reasserting the truth of genocide. (read article)

This year 7,000 Zionist Christians from all over the world will once again march in Jerusalem to fulfill that which is written in the Book of Zechariah, whereby all nations will make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the messianic era to celebrate Sukkot.

Their parade is the highlight of an ongoing effort to stand by our side for better or for worse, unconditionally and without receiving anything in return. On the contrary, they are grateful that we accept their outstretched hands. In the US, their ranks comprise tens of millions who are well organized and who have substantial political clout.

Their belief in the Bible is the key to this rare phenomenon of Christian love towards Israel, which is not anything new. Christian Zionism emerged in England 32 years prior to the "harbinger of Zionism" Moses Hess (author of Rome and Jerusalem.) The Earl of Shaftsbury (1853) saw "a land without a people," which God allocated to the "people without a land."

His contemporary, British Prime Minister Palmerston pressed the Turkish Sultan to encourage European Jewry to return to the Land of Israel. Author George Eliot called for the revival of the organic center of Jewish existence in the Land of Israel (in her novel Daniel Deronda) 20 years prior to the publication of the "Jewish Homeland."

Herzl's loyal follower, Reverend William Henry Hechler, partook in the Zionist congresses. Even Lord Balfour and his Prime Minister Lloyd George had religious motives. The latter said: I was taught a lot more about Jewish history than the history of my own people. Wingate (the "friend") didn't go anywhere without the Bible.

Yet despite this, the evangelist Christians are rejected by liberal Jews in the United States and by leftists in Israel who label them "rightists" and proponents of the notion of Greater Israel. Their Zionism is rejected with the hollow argument that it is premised on their faith that Jesus will only return after the Jewish people return to the Land of Israel.

This year, the Zionist Christians have also encountered opposition from the Chief Rabbinate, which banned Jews from participating in the convention and in their parade. The reasons: They lend the Jewish holiday of Sukkot a Christian character, and among the participants there are those suspected of engaging in missionary work.

Non-Jews wearing Star of David

Let's think about this for a moment before we turn a supporter into an enemy, something we tend to excel at: The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem that organizes the Sukkot events was founded in response to the international diplomatic boycott of Jerusalem and as a gesture of solidarity, not because of missionary work. Even the Rabbinate doesn't maintain that the evangelist support is missionary in essence. And if there are those among them who exploit it, does that mean an entire movement should be rejected?

Indeed, they instill their own content into the Sukkot holiday. What is it that we are after? Shouldn't Christians be Christians? Jews are not invited to their ceremonies, but only to the parade and the events at the Jerusalem International Convention Center where they are careful not to include any Christian ritual. What more could we ask for?

The contact with Christian Zionists is creating a reverse phenomenon: Churches in the American Midwest are waving the Israeli flag, non-Jews are wearing the Star of David, they are opening up to Jewish music and other Jewish symbols. The Bible is what creates the encounter between us, and according to Reverend John C. Hagee, they support Israel because it is a fundamental value of Christianity, see the Book of Genesis: "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

After 60 years of independence in our land, it's time for a little more self confidence and fewer ghetto-like complexes. In an alienated world, with anti-Semitism rearing its head, how can we reject those who honestly seek our company, the sons of a movement that heralded our revival?

The clock is ticking, yet no one wishes to hear it. The countdown to a nuclear Iran has begun, and with each passing day the nightmare scenario draws ever closer to becoming a reality.

In just a few months' time, if all goes according to plan, the tyrant of Teheran will preside over a celebration of terrifying, and history-altering, significance.

His goal, as he has stated repeatedly in recent weeks, is to complete the installation of thousands of centrifuges, the devices used to enrich uranium, by the end of March 2007. .  .

Now is the time for all those who love Israel to stand up and be counted. Now is the time for pro-Israel Christians everywhere, and especially in the US, to rise up and cry out on behalf of God's people.

Storm the heavens with your prayers, and the White House with your pleas. Speak out now and urge US President George W. Bush to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all. (read JPOST article)

Dec. 26, 2006 - The Bible has many names for what we call sin. At the top of the sin hierarchy is a Hebrew word, toevah, which is most often translated as “abomination.” An abomination is not just wrong, not just sinful. It is a knowing and ruthless corruption. The recent Holocaust-deniers meeting convened by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not a conference, it was an abomination in the full biblical sense of the word.

The question is who ought to have the primary responsibility for correcting this abomination? I think it ought to be Christians, and not Jews, who lead the way in reasserting the truth of genocide. (read article)

Gellman holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University.  He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is the senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, New York.  Gellman is a past President of the New York Board of Rabbis. (read BIO)